Marvel Villains For an R-Rated Movie:
With Fox now under the Disney banner, nothing can stop the Mouse House juggernaut from ruling the Box Office. The only thing that stands between them and total conquest of Hollywood is their own mentality. Disney has fixated Marvel to make formulaic movies that revolve around family-friendly entertainment that is accessible to all. In short, it means no violence, nudity or swear-words. The conception propagated by Disney is that making a universally acceptable movie would mean higher profit rather than an R-Rated movie with only a limited customer range was busted when Deadpool hit the theatres and changed the game. Disney CEO Bob Iger has expressed his views to take Disney and Marvel Studios in a new direction in the R-Rated genre. And these are the characters we would like Marvel to pick for that venture. If DCEU could do it with The Joker, MCU could do it too.
1. Magneto
Thanks to Fox Studios, we have had two different, very popular actors portray Magneto on screen. The master of magnetism has a sizable fan base that Marvel could exploit with a solo movie. Magneto has a rich history that dates back to Nazi Germany. If there was a possibility of including that part of his past and making a movie out of it, Magneto could become as popular as Deadpool in the R-rated category. Since the premise itself will be really dark (it is happening in Nazi Germany, duh!!), the R-rating would help the movie explore pretty mature themes. Exploring the daily life of a mutant trying to make ends meet in Germany as a maniacal dictator is grabbing hold of power makes for good storytelling material.
2. Legion
Although we could not term him as a supervillain, the mutant known as Legion is pretty much a broken man. He is such a fractured individual that he is deemed to be highly mentally unstable. Legion is the son of Professor Charles Xavier aka Professor X of the X-Men. He has several God-Like powers ranging from time travel, pyro-kinesis, and telepathy. Legion is an Omega level mutant. When he was a child he absorbed the personalities of multiple individuals, with each personality taking over each time to grant Legion a unique ability! If Legion does get an R-rated movie, it must revolve around his attempt to travel back in time and start the chain of events that eventually lead to the Days of Future past storyline.
3. The Dark Avengers
Many claims that since DC is going forward with their plans for a second Suicide Squad movie, Marvel Studios should also try and bring the thunderbolts, the Marvel Comic equivalent of DC Comics’ Suicide Squad. But we say why to stop there?! Why not take it up a notch and introduce the Dark Avengers. The Dark Avengers were a group created by Norman Osborn aka the Green Goblin, after he became the President of the United States and disbanded the Avengers. The Dark Avengers were involved in some pretty dark and serious stuff and with an R-rated production would help them reveal those to the audience in all their glory.
4. Sentry
The Sentry is by and large considered a superhero. But he has a very dark side. Robert Reynolds holds the power of a million exploding suns in his veins. But the serum that granted him his amazing superpowers also gave him a serious side effect. The Sentry also houses a demonic entity called the void within his mind that is vying for control each moment Sentry uses his powers. The Void does not give a damn about collateral damage and is a thousand times stronger than the Sentry. It would be good to see just how much damage the Void could do if his terror is unleashed in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. How the Void massacres millions of people with the Sentry trying to take over in the mean-while will make for a good but violent storyline.
5. Carnage
Venom is not officially a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even if not a part of it officially, Spiderman was also brought on lease from Sony and Tom Holland did a splendid job as the friendly neighborhood wall-crawler. If Disney went for it, they could also bring Carnage to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The name itself says it all. Carnage is actually a serial killer who got possessed by a symbiote offspring of Venom and gained powers similar to Spiderman. Carnage loves killing and is more than happy to get his hands dirty. He is also one of the most powerful sinister forces that the Avengers have ever faced. If the R-rated movie does not feature the Avengers, it could show us the origin story of Cletus Kasady, the man behind the mask of Carnage.
6. Doctor Doom
There are different levels of dark themes that an R-rated movie could show. On one end of the spectrum there are movies like Deadpool, on the other end we have Doctor Doom. Victor Von Doom is the ruler of Latveria and a very famous supervillain. His rise to power would be noteworthy and perfect for a movie adaptation. There have been talks of a Doctor Doom movie within the purview of the MCU but nothing concrete has been reached till now. No power struggle or rise to power of a dictator has been blood-less. History itself has been witness to that first hand. Doctor Doom’s origin story could be the super-powered version of a Game of Thrones where politics, sorcery, and action intertwine in epic proportions.
7. Thanos
They are already building an Eternals’ movie. But a Thanos movie makes more sense because the audience already knows about this guy. Thanos is an Eternal with bits of Deviant gene, a species that are the sworn enemies of the Eternals. In the MCU, we see that Thanos already revealed bits and pieces of his past. When his planet was dying, Thanos proposed something extremely radical that the Titan Government thought to be crazy. Where Thanos goes from there, starting his journey to becoming the Mad Titan, doing unspeakable things as the friends and loved ones around him start to abandon him, could form the crux of that story.
8. Sabretooth
Logan almost had Sabretooth in it before they replaced it with a Wolverine clone. Sabretooth’s past is even more twisted and darker than Wolverine’s. While Logan was cast out of his home by his father after he realized he was a mutant, Sabretooth’s father did not let him go after coming to know that his son was an abomination. Instead, he kept his son locked and hidden in the basement, refusing to set him free anytime soon. Sabretooth is so bloodthirsty as he is today because his list of enemies literally started with his father, someone we all consider to be our greatest ally. The solo movie could show how Sabretooth let the animal within unleash itself and how he became the villain he is today.
9. Apocalypse
Apocalypse is the first-ever mutant to be born on Planet Earth. Starting out as a measly blue-skinned servant in the deserts of Egypt, Apocalypse grew his influence and became powerful to challenge the Gods. His ascent into Godhood could be worthy of a storyline. And like Doctor Doom, the rise to power of Apocalypse –a person who revels in inflicting pain and torturing his enemies, will not be without blood and darkness.
10. The Kingpin
We all know the Kingpin. He is a rich, fat, and bald-headed maniac that is the Crime Lord that rules the dark underbelly of the underworld in Marvel Comics. With his vast network and infinite resources, the Kingpin is a force to be reckoned with in the Marvel Comic book Universe. The Netflix adaptations showed us a glimpse of how the Kingpin had a very traumatic childhood. If a Kingpin movie happens, it could show us how an innocent kid with a heart of gold was turned into one of the most merciless people known to mankind due to a sadistic father and excruciatingly painful childhood experience.
